Culture

Counterculture

A group whose values, beliefs, norms and related behaviors place its members in opposition to the broader culture

How can values act as "blinders"?

Because values are lenses through which we see the world, we often see what life should be like and not what it actually is. EX: americans value individualism so highly that they see almost everyone as free and equal in pursuing the goal of success. This blinds them to the importance of the circumstances that keep people from achieving success. What this means is that instead of taking into account the fact that some people have obstacles in their pursuits for success, such as family poverty, lower education, and dead-end jobs. Americans see this unsuccessfulness as people being lazy and not putting out enough effort. This is also, in part, due to the ideas that the mass media instills in peoples' minds.

How and why is culture "taken for granted"?

Because we are immersed within our own cultures at an early age, we assume that it is what normal behavior is. Without realizing it, one forms basic ideas of the way people and things should be. This is because most people grow up and develop their beliefs while surrounded by just one culture. This can lead to culture shock and ethnocentrism.

Sanctions

Either expressions of approval given to people for upholding norms, or expressions of disproval for violating them

Why is language a critical component of culture?

It is the primary way in which people communicate with one another. With language, we are able to pass on ideas, knowledge, and attitudes to the next generation. "Language allows culture to develop by freeing people to move beyond their immediate experiences." Without it, memories would be limited. It provides a social or shared future, allows shared perspectives, and shared goal-directed behavior. "Language is the basis of culture."

Why is culture so important?

It touches almost every aspect of who and what we are. Culture gives us language, values, morality, ideas on religion, money, war, love, etc. It makes us who we are, and helps us form relationships with other people. "Culture becomes the lens through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on around us."

What are some emerging values in the U.S.?

Leisure, self-fulfillment, physical fitness, youthfulness, concern for the environment. These emerging core values are related to conditions of society. They are responses to fundamental changes in cultures/environments.

Cultural relativism

Not judging a culture, but trying it on its own terms

Culture Shock

The disorientation that people experience when they come in contact with a fundamentally different culture and can no longer depend on their taken-for-granted assumptions about life. EX: An American in Morocco learns that in order to buy tickets, they must push in front of others or else they will never get them

Ethnocentrism

The use of one's own culture as a yardstick for judging the ways of other individuals or societies usually leading to a negative evaluation of their values, norms, and behaviors

Subculture

The values and related behaviors of a group that distinguish its members from the larger cultures; a world within a world

What is value contradiction? How is it related to social change?

Values that contradict one another; to follow the one means to come into conflict with the other. It is related to social change in that with major events, thoughts on values can change among some people. EX: the civil war and women's liberation movement changed thoughts on freedom, democracy, and equality for some people.

What is cultural leveling and how does it occur?

• Process by which cultures become similar to one another. • Occurs with travel, communication, and exposure to mass media. The globalization of capitalism brings with it both technology and western culture. EX: Henslin visited the jungle in India with no electricity, running water, and a remote entrance. Yet, he saw a man wearing a have with a nike emblem.

What is cultural diffusion and how does it occur?

• The spread of cultural traits from one group to another; includes both material and nonmaterial traits. In this process, groups are most open to changes int heir technology or material culture. • With travel and communication, cultural diffusion is occurring rapidly. Air travel makes it possible to go anywhere in the world in a matter of hours. There is almost no "other side of the world" anymore.